A Speech Fit For A King

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talks to reporters at SMU in 1966.

On March 17, 1966, with policemen nearby, a standing-room-only audience filled SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium to hear the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a moving speech about civil rights and “the destiny of America.” King journeyed from Atlanta to Dallas at the invitation of the Academic Committee of SMU’s Student Senate.

Gene Halaburt of Dallas recorded the speech on a handheld recorder and provided a copy to SMU. For the first time in 42 years, that speech can be listened to or downloaded from the SMU’s Web site. The site also has links to excerpts from the speech and a Daily Campus account of the event.

In his speech, King calls for “all people of goodwill to solve this problem [of racism] and get rid of this one huge wrong of our nation.”